THE HUNTINGTON LIBRARY, ART COLLECTIONS, AND BOTANICAL GARDENS

1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, California  91108

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept.2, 2010

CONTACTS:           Thea M. Page, 626-405-2260, tpage@huntington.org

                                  Lisa Blackburn, 626-405-2140, lblackburn@huntington.org

MAJOR COLLECTION OF RARE RENAISSANCE AND BAROQUE BRONZES

GOES ON VIEW OCT. 9

PRESS KIT NOW AVAILABLE AT:  http://www.huntington.org/huntingtonlibrary_02.aspx?id=7976

“Beauty and Power: Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes from the Peter Marino Collection”

is enriched with objects from The Huntington’s permanent collections

On View Oct. 9, 2010–Jan. 24, 2011

Press Preview: Friday, Oct. 8, 10 a.m.–Noon

SAN MARINO, Calif.—The international exhibition “Beauty and Power: Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes from the Peter Marino Collection” opens at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens on Oct. 9, 2010, and runs through Jan. 24, 2011. A rare look at 28 exceptional bronze statuettes from the private collection of New York architect Peter Marino— most of which have never before been on public view—the presentation at The Huntington is enriched with objects from its permanent collections.

The Huntington is the first U.S. venue for “Beauty and Power,” which debuted at the Wallace Collection, London, in spring 2010, and travels to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in early 2011. (Tour details below.) The exhibition focuses on masterpieces made from the mid-16th to the mid-18th century in Italy, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. It is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog by Jeremy Warren, reflecting new research on the works. Warren is curator of the exhibition and collections and academic director of the Wallace Collection.

Bronze statuettes, of a scale ideal for display on a table or mantle in a domestic setting, developed as a serious art form in Renaissance Italy with a revival of the ancient Roman bronze casting tradition. Interest in making and collecting them spread north, as they became a popular medium to highlight sculptors’ technical mastery and aesthetic sophistication. Since antiquity, small bronzes have delighted and engaged viewers who contemplated their beauty, inventive and complex compositions, and erudite subject matter, often inspired by Greek and Roman mythology. They have been collected actively by cultured and discerning individuals since the Renaissance. The works highlighted in “Beauty and Power” reflect the collecting passion and acumen of Marino, an art collector and architect who may be best known for his buildings designed for the fashion industry, though Marino recently has  assembled one of the strongest collections of Renaissance and Baroque bronzes in the nation.

“From the first time I had the privilege of viewing Mr. Marino’s collection, consisting of many of the most beautiful bronzes that have appeared on the market in recent years, I knew we must do what we could to bring them to Los Angeles audiences,” said John Murdoch, Hannah and Russel Kully Director of Art Collections at The Huntington. “We are delighted to be working with the Wallace Collection and Mr. Marino to present works of such extraordinary artistic quality to our visitors.”

The presentation of “Beauty and Power” at The Huntington is supplemented with five related examples from The Huntington’s small but artistically important group of Renaissance bronzes, most of which were purchased by Henry E. Huntington in 1917 from the great collection of bronzes formed by J. Pierpont Morgan. The juxtaposition of the Marino and Huntington bronzes is intended to provoke new and interesting comparisons among works. The Huntington’s presentation also includes a room devoted to explaining the bronze casting and finishing processes with bronze sculptures that visitors can handle. Rare books from The Huntington’s collections contextualize mythological themes depicted by the sculptures on view and underscore the importance of ancient Roman culture on the arts of this period.

The sculptures in Marino’s collection depict a gamut of action and emotion, from the theatrical violence of Samson and the Philistine, attributed to Baccio Bandinelli (1488–1560), to the seductive glamour of Antonio Montauti’s (1685–ca. 1740) Diana the Huntress. Other highlights of the exhibition include the French sculptor Corneille van Cleve’s (1646–1732) masterpiece Bacchus and Ariadne showing the lusty but elegant encounter between the abandoned goddess and her rescuer; two magnificent figurative groups by the Florentine sculptor Giovanni Battista Foggini (1652–1725) depicting the gruesome Apollo and Marsyas and heroic David Triumphant over Goliath; Ferdinando Tacca’s (1619–1686) poignant Hercules and Iole; Robert Le Lorrain’s (1666–1743) graceful Andromeda; and a pair of superb High Baroque vases, decorated with scenes from Roman history. These monumental vases measure 33 inches in height and are ornamented with classically inspired acanthus leaves and relief scenes that bring to mind the carving on ancient sarcophagi. They bring the total number of works on display from the Peter Marino Collection to 30.

One of the classic materials of sculpture, bronze has long been sought after as a medium by both artists and collectors because of its power to create, out of molten metal, the most complex and satisfying sculptural forms. Dark and lustrous, with a spectrum of possible surface qualities, bronze sculpture can be used to express the most vivid emotions and experiences.. “Beauty and Power”  ontinues an effort by museums to shed light on distinguished private collections of Renaissance bronzes. The Quentin Collection was displayed at the Frick Collection, New York, in 2005, and the Robert H. Smith Collection at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 2008.

“Rather than simply duplicating a show from one venue to the next, these exhibitions are building on one another to bring light to an important field of study,” said Catherine Hess, chief curator of European art and organizer of the exhibition at The Huntington. “Much remains to be understood regarding the technical process of making the sculpture as well as understanding matters of connoisseurship. It is thrilling for us to be able to contribute to this international examination and to welcome novices to the appreciation of bronzes. Our presentation, we hope, will engage visitors of all ages and backgrounds with explorations of why collectors become so passionate about collecting these sensuous and evocative sculptures, and to bring to life some of the timeless mythological tales that inspired them.”

About the Collector

Peter Marino is one of the world’s leading architects. Andy Warhol and Yves Saint Laurent were among his first clients when he founded his architectural practice in 1978, with initial commissions including the design of Warhol’s seminal Factory space and renovation of his New York townhouse. Friendship with Warhol furthered Marino’s interest in art collecting, a passion he has been able to develop both while sourcing artworks for clients and through his work for international museums. Marino’s museum commissions have included designing the installation for “Art and Industry: Contemporary Porcelain From Sèvres” at the American Craft Museum in 1999 and, this year, “Les Lalanne” at Paris’ Musée des Arts Décoratifs and the Meissen animal and royal porcelain galleries at the Zwinger Palace in Dresden. His recent architectural projects include Chanel boutiques in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Shanghai; a Louis Vuitton boutique in Las Vegas; a Dior Fine Jewelry boutique in Geneva; and Ermenegildo Zegna global flagship stores in Tokyo and Hong Kong.

A self-confessed “obsessive,” Marino has built a collection that now ranges from important French porcelain to contemporary painting, and, over the last 25 years, he has acquired the 28 bronze sculptures on view in “Beauty and Power.”

This exhibition is made possible by the Ahmanson Foundation Exhibition and Education Endowment. Additional support was provided by Laura and Carlton Seaver.

About the Wallace Collection The Wallace Collection is a British national museum in a historic London townhouse. In 25 galleries are unsurpassed displays of French 18th-century painting, furniture, and porcelain with superb Old Master paintings and a world-class armory. More information is available at www.wallacecollection.org.

Exhibition Tour

• The Wallace Collection, London: April 29–July 25, 2010

• The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens: Oct. 9, 2010–Jan. 24, 2011

• Minneapolis Institute of Arts: Feb. 6–May 15, 2011

Related Book

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog by Jeremy Warren. Beauty and Power: Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes from the Peter Marino Collection is published by Paul Holberton Publishing, London, with 288 pages and 300 color illustrations. Hardcover ($75) and soft-cover ($45) editions are available at The Huntington’s Bookstore & More, 626-405-2142, e-mail: bookstore@huntington.org.

Related Exhibition

“The Lure of Myth: British Drawings from The Huntington’s Art Collections”

Nov. 6, 2010 – Mar. 7, 2011

Huntington Art Gallery, Works on Paper Room

Subjects drawn from Greek and Roman mythology have appealed to artists for many centuries. Often dealing with epic struggles, feats of courage, or amorous adventures, mythological stories were appreciated for their originality, heroic characters, and drama. This small exhibition features the work of British artists of the 18th and 19th centuries who experimented with these subjects, including James Thornhill, Thomas Gainsborough, Henry Fuseli, and Richard Dadd. It complements the exhibition  Beauty and Power: Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes from the Peter Marino Collection,” which includes many examples of mythological subjects in sculpture.

Related Lectures

ART LECTURE SERIES: BEAUTY AND POWER

Oct.19, 26; Nov. 2, 2010 (Tuesdays), 10–11 a.m.

Join Catherine Hess, chief curator of European art, for this three-part series and explore various questions raised by the exhibition. Why was the ancient art form of bronze statuettes revived during the Renaissance? Why were collectors so passionate about acquiring them? Why did mythological subject matter predominate? What was entailed in casting such objects? Slide presentations will be supplemented with visits to the exhibition. Members: $45. Non-Members: $55. Registration: 626-405-2128.

FLORENCE, PARIS, ROME: CULTURAL CROSSING POINTS

Wed., Nov. 17, 2010, 7:30 p.m.

The bronzes in the Peter Marino Collection can be enjoyed as individual works of art of great  ophistication and beauty, but they also, as a group, exemplify the fascination that the ancient world exercised on artists and their patrons during the Renaissance and Baroque periods. In this lecture, Jeremy Warren, curator of the exhibition and academic director of the Wallace Collection, London, takes as his starting point this age-old love affair with Italy. Through a presentation of the bronzes in the Marino Collection, he also demonstrates the crucial cultural and political links among Paris, Florence, and Rome, the three great artistic centers of the period. Free. No reservations required. Friends’ Hall.

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[EDITOR’S NOTE: High-resolution digital images available on request for publicity use.]

About The Huntington

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens is a collections-based research and educational institution serving scholars and the general public. More information about The Huntington can be found online at www.huntington.org.

Visitor information

The Huntington is located at 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino, Calif., 12 miles from downtown Los Angeles. It is open to the public Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from noon to 4:30 p.m.; and Saturday, Sunday, and Monday holidays from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Summer hours (Memorial Day through Labor Day) are 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Closed Tuesdays and major holidays. Admission on weekdays: $15 adults, $12 seniors (65+), $10 students (ages 12–18 or with full-time student I.D.), $6 youth (ages 5–11), free for children under 5. Group rate $11 per person for groups of 15 or more. Members are admitted free. Admission on weekends and Monday holidays: $20 adults, $15 seniors, $10 students, $6 youth, free for children under 5. Group rate $14 per person for groups of 15 or more. Members are admitted free. Admission is free to all visitors on the first Thursday of each month with advance tickets. Information: 626-405-2100 or www.huntington.org.